Office Pranks for Coworkers: Harmless Pranks for Adults at Work

A good office prank is over in ten seconds, gets a laugh from the victim as well as everyone watching, and leaves nothing to clean up but the story. A bad one costs someone their afternoon, their dignity or their stuff. The difference is almost entirely in following a few rules.

The rules of a good prank

• Know your target. Prank the colleague who laughs at themselves, never the one having a hard week. If you are not sure, they are the wrong person.
• Nothing that damages anything. No broken equipment, no lost work, no stains.
• Nothing in food or drink that anyone could swallow, and never anything involving allergies.
• Mind phobias and health. A spider prank on someone with a genuine phobia, or anyone with a heart condition, is not a joke.
• Clean it up yourself, straight away.
• Be ready to be pranked back. That is the deal.

Classic pranks that need nothing

• Googly eyes on everything in their drawer — stapler, mug, monitor, keyboard.
• A sticky note over the mouse's sensor underneath, so the pointer will not move. Easy to find, easy to fix.
• Wrap their desk items individually in wrapping paper while they are on holiday.
• Fill their cubicle with balloons. It takes a team and it takes ages; that is what makes it legendary.
• Change nothing but one thing. Swap their chair with an identical one a fraction lower. They will spend a day wondering.

Pranks with props

The spider prank box. A plain little wooden box, the kind a gift might come in. Hand it over, watch them slide the lid, and a big black spider springs out at their fingers. It is one of the oldest practical jokes there is, it works on nearly everyone, and it resets in a second for the next victim.

Fake cockroaches. Realistic plastic cockroaches, fifty to a bag. One under the lid of a coffee cup. One peering out of a desk drawer. One in the fold of the morning report. A dozen under the office fridge on a Monday. Spread them out over a week for maximum effect — and collect them all again afterwards.

Pranks for coworkers on holiday

The best time to prank a colleague is while they are away: there is time to do it properly, and the reveal is their first moment back. Wrapped desks, a cubicle turned into a beach, a cardboard cutout in their chair — and a fake cockroach somewhere they will find it on the second day, when they think it is all over.

When not to prank

Not on someone's first day, last day, or the day of a big deadline. Not on anyone senior who has not shown they would find it funny. And never anything that would be awkward to explain to HR.